Double Occupancy
by JHoltzmann
Summary: When the containment unit malfunctions, the Ghostbusters team learns that not all possessions are as outwardly obvious as Rowan's possession of Abby. Sometimes ghosts can be as inventive as the Ghostbusters themselves.
1. Chapter 1

A bright white thread of electricity cut through the clouds and lit the otherwise dark, wet night as a car barreled through the gridlocked traffic, sending waves of puddles splashing from uneven pavement with each bump. The steady thump of the windshield wipers kept tempo with the muffled sound of the siren blaring from the exterior of the car and the flashing lights on the roof reflected off the falling rain back at its occupants. The car pitched sharply to the left, tires sliding slightly on the wet pavement and sending three of its passengers to grip at handholds to brace themselves.

"Jesus, Holtz, slow down," Abby said through gritted teeth as their blonde driver took another sharp turn. "I want to catch a ghost, not become one."

"I'm going the speed limit," she replied, peeking under her hand at the speedometer.

"Limits are for dry roads and better visibility." Erin spoke up from the backseat.

Holtzmann ignored them, and gunned the engine when traffic broke, opening the road for a long stretch. They were heading out of the city, to a private residence where the new owners had reported being attacked by, what sounded like a class 4 apparition. At least that's how it had sounded from Kevin's very vague message he'd scratched into a post-it note before hanging up the phone. He'd come a long way since the early days of his being their receptionist, yet he still left much to be desired from his position. But, he was family, despite his incompetence. So, they kept him around.

"Anyone call the owner back and see what we're walking into here?" Abby asked, turning slightly to face the backseat.

"Would have if Kevin'd taken a callback number," Patty replied, "We're lucky he got an address."

"Yeah, let's hope we don't end up in the middle of nowhere this time." Erin added.

"I'll talk to him again," Abby sighed.

"So, no clue what we're getting into?" Erin asked.

"All the note said was that a woman's husband was attacked in her basement a week after purchasing the house."

"Attacked, like injury causing physical kinda thing?" Patty asked.

"I'm not sure, but we need to be prepared for anything. Erin and I will take point, and Patty, I want you and Holtzmann monitoring every reading you can get while we talk to the owner. I don't want anything sneaking up on us while we try and gather more information."

Head nods went around the group as they fell into a comfortable silence, each one mentally preparing themselves for what they might encounter.

A short while later, they spotted the address from the note on a tall stone pillar of a large steel gate. Holtzmann flipped off the lights and sirens and let out a low whistle as she pulled the car up to the gate.

"Fancy," she said aloud as she rolled the window down, instantly soaking her arm as she reached out and buzzed the intercom.

"Hello?" a female voice crackled through the box.

"You call about a ghost?" Holtzmann said back.

Without another word the intercom buzzed and the gate slowly opened. Holtzmann quickly rolled up her window and pulled the car through the gate and up the long driveway.

"Whoa," Erin said, leaning forward in her seat to peer out the windshield at the house as they approached.

"Yup, this place is definitely haunted." Holtzmann said, putting the car in park and leaning over the steering wheel to look.

The house appeared to be a two-story old Victorian Gothic structure made of dark stone with pointed windows and tall pillars lining the surrounding patio. A single amber colored light shone through the sheer curtains of a lower level window was the only sign that anyone lived there at all. An exterior light switched on, illuminating a stream of rain water cascading down from the steep gables onto the steps.

"This place is Spooky Yo," Patty said quietly, waiting for one of the others to make the first move to exit the vehicle.

"Hey guys," Holtzmann announced, pulling at her door handle, "just try and, ya know, get in there before the packs take in too much water. Trust me, you don't want that kind of jolt."

"Seriously?!" Patty groaned.

The engineer grinned and stepped out into the rain, jogging around the back of the hearse to open the back door. They made quick work of grabbing their equipment from the "Pack Rack" and carrying them under the safety of the awning before putting them on. Once they were fully situated, Abby knocked on the door, half wondering why the woman who'd spoken on the intercom wasn't already waiting for them at the door. Instead it took a full minute before the door slowly opened, revealing a young, frail looking brunette.

"Hello," Abby extended her hand, "I'm Doctor Abby Yates. These are Doctors Gilbert, and Holtzmann, and our team historian Patty. Did you call about a ghost problem?"

"I guess so. At least that's what I think it is. I didn't know who else to call."

"We were told someone was attacked," Erin said, trying to distract the woman from Holtzmann and Patty preparing the PKE meter. "Was that you?"

"My husband," she answered, then seemed to shake herself out of her own thoughts, "I'm sorry. Please come inside. It's pouring out here."

The Ghostbusters followed the woman inside the house to the lit room they'd seen from outside. She motioned for them to sit, but they refused, eager to get on with their scan of the house.

"This house has been in my family for generations," she began, "I inherited it six months ago, when my grandfather died. As far as I know, nobody has lived here since the 40s though. We moved in a few months ago, and began renovations. That's when it started."

"What started?" Erin urged her on.

"Just strange things at first. Sounds from different areas of the house. From the basement, mostly. Then things would go missing and show up somewhere else. Then two weeks ago, Michael started having nightmares. Serious nightmares where he would wake up like he was fighting something but nothing was ever there. Two days ago, I was in the kitchen when I heard him yelling, calling for help from the basement. When I got to the doorway, I saw…I'm not really sure what I saw. Something threw him down the stairs."

"You're sure he didn't just fall?" Abby asked.

"I'm positive. Something lifted him in the air before throwing him with force down the basement stairs. My husband may never walk again because of whatever that thing did. I just want it gone."

"We'll do everything we can to get any paranormal entities out of your house," Abby encouraged, "But I think it would be safer if you left us here alone to do it. These things tend to not want to be caught, and being nearby can be very dangerous."

"Ok, sure." The woman stood then hesitated, "Just, be careful in the basement. We think it was used as a laboratory of some sort years and years ago. We haven't been able to remove any of the old equipment out of there. I get the feeling that's why this, whatever it is, doesn't want anyone down there."

Erin and Holtzmann shared a look of intrigue as Abby thanked the woman for her warning and walked her to the front door. She came back a short time later armed with her proton wand, ready to get started.

"Dibs on the basement!" Holtzmann said immediately, handing the PKE meter to Patty and retrieving her own wand.

"Damn," Patty swore, knowing she had just been volunteered by association.

"Let's start at the top and move our way down," Abby instructed, "we'll hit the basement together once we've cleared the rest of the house."

"Alright," Holtzmann groaned, rolling her eyes.

"Stop it," Patty replied, earning a smirk from the engineer before she set off into the next room with Abby and Erin on her heels.

It didn't take long for them to clear the top floor, containing three bedrooms and two bathrooms, and the ground level living room, den and kitchen.

"Anything?" Abby asked as she and Erin rejoined Patty and Holtzmann in the den.

"Not a damn thing," Patty answered, "Not a single abnormal reading on anything."

"That doesn't make any sense," Erin said, deep in thought, "Even if an apparition, strong enough to throw a grown man, hadn't made an appearance in days, there should still some residual energy left behind that our equipment would pick up."

"Unless it never left the basement," Holtzmann replied.

"I supposed it's possible," Abby agreed, "The PKE meter didn't start picking up Gertrude Aldridge until she'd already manifested and leaving the basement she'd been in."

"So, to the basement then?" Holtzmann beamed.

"Basement," Abby confirmed.

Despite Holtzmann's excitement to explore a haunted laboratory, she let Abby open the door and lead the way down the first few steps before following her in. Erin flipped a switch before entering, lighting the room with a single amber bulb hanging in the middle of the room from bare wires. The dim light revealed three walls lined with workbenches covered with various beakers and Bunsen burners under a thick layer of grimy dust.

Abby stopped when the light came on, scanning the area and looking to Erin and the PKE meter in her hand. Without needing to hear the question in Abby's eyes, Erin shook her head. So far, their equipment showed nothing.

They continued slowly down the steps until they reached the landing and spread out through the room. Holtzmann scanned the equipment on the workbenches curiously and mentally cataloged what she saw, brain going into overdrive with ideas. If the lab hadn't been used since the 40s, it was anyone's guess as to what kind of scientific breakthroughs could have been sitting incomplete in the small dungeon of a room, forgotten by time.

"Well," Abby broke the silence, "If anything was here before, it's gone now."

"You think she imagined it?" Erin asked.

"Maybe he just fell," Patty added. "This place is definitely creepy enough to play tricks on your mind. Make you see things different from how it happened."

"Should we do one more sweep with the PKE meter just to be sure?" Erin asked.

"Can't hurt," Abby answered, and made her way back to the stairs with Erin and Patty trailing behind her.

"I'm gonna hang back here," Holtzmann stated. The silence pulled her eyes away from the gadgets on the workbench and she looked to her staring teammates. "What? Look guys, Science! Old science!"

"Alright Holtz," Abby sighed, "Just, don't touch anything alright."

Holtzmann slashed her finger across her chest in a cross you heart motion and lifted it into a two-fingered boy scout salute.

The rest of the team began their ascent up the stairs before Erin stopped and turned back to look down at the blonde. Something in her gut was telling her to stay. That it was a bad idea for anyone to be alone, even if their equipment had showed no signs of activity. Before she could voice her concerns, Abby stopped, three steps down from the door and turned slowly back.

"Do you feel that?" she asked quietly.

Erin froze, listening and focusing on the air around them. It was minute, but there was definitely something different. A heaviness had surrounded them, making it just slightly harder to breathe, like a rise in humidity.

"Uh, guys?"

Erin whipped her head to look back down at Holtzmann and immediately noticed the now visible moisture of her breath from her mouth as she stared back up at them. Suddenly the PKE meter in Patty's hand began whirling and a static crackle of white noise hissed through the two-way radios they'd added to their belts. Erin spun on her heel and led the quick stampede back down the steps to join Holtzmann. It was most definitely colder at the bottom of the stairs, making their eyes burn. The static from the radios turned to a high-pitched squeal and a shift in air pressure caused a moment of vertigo.

"Seems we're not alone after all," Holtzmann said, flexing her jaw to relieve her ears of the pressure.

The light in the center of the room suddenly burst, raining sparks and heated glass onto their heads and plunging them into darkness. Patty stepped back instinctively in surprise, bumping into the workbench. A loud crash of glass shattered against the floor, knocked from its place on the table, and the room burst into a brilliant blue light. The phosphorescent form of a woman surged out of the darkness, rushing them before their eyes could adjust and react. Holtzmann took the brunt of the blow, slamming into the wall, making her see stars. Before she could recover she was being lifted by her foot into the air.

"Hang on Holtz," Abby yelled as two streams of proton energy wrapped around the specter before it could reach the full height of the room.

The banshee let out a wail that made their ears ring at the contact and it released the engineer. Gravity took full effect and Holtzmann landed hard on her back, smashing glass and knocking dusty experiments over from the impact. Patty was at her side instantly helping her roll off the table to her feet. Holtzmann's feet gave out and she dropped to her knees with Patty dropping down with her.

"You alright?" Patty asked, risking a glance away from the screeching specter to her friend.

"Yeah," Holtzmann tried to catch her breath and shoved Patty's hands away, "help them."

Patty nodded and stood up, releasing her own proton stream to wrap around the ghost from the opposite side of the others. The demon wailed again, turning to look at the historian with glowing hollow eyes. In a burst of energy they'd never seen before, the phantom wrapped its glowing hands around the proton stream projecting from Patty's wand. Patty's eyes went wide in disbelief before she was ripped from her feet by her own grip on the wand. She landed hard on the concrete floor, sliding into Erin and Abby, knocking them over with her momentum.

"What the hell?" Abby swore, rolling as quickly a she could to her feet.

"That's…that's impossible!" Erin wheezed.

Before they could fully recover, the specter gathered another burst of energy, glowing brightly before rushing forward at the three Ghostbusters. Suddenly the room exploded into a hot white light as the ghost trap popped open in the center of the room, creating a vortex beneath the wailing phantom. It spun around, reaching out at Holtzmann who leaned back away from its flailing hands and fired her proton wand, never removing her foot from the trap's pedal.

Three more streams joined into the fray the moment the others could regain their footing, pushing and pulling until the specter could no longer fight and was pulled into the depths of the canister and the room went dark with a solid clap of sealing metal. The instant silence was nearly as deafening as the screeching had been.

Their ears were ringing and they were all winded from the exertion.

"Holy shit," Abby gasped after a moment, "Is everyone alright? I can't see anything."

"Yeah," Erin replied from somewhere to her right.

"Yeah, I'm good," Patty added from her left, "Holtzy you alright?"

"Yeah," Holtzmann's voice was quiet across the room.

"You sure?" Abby picked up on her uncharacteristic tone and shuffled cautiously toward her. "You took a pretty good hit."

"Not my most graceful landing, but it was my first time flying."

Abby smiled in the dark glad there was still humor in her pained voice. They had all taken tumbles on busts and landing on your back with a proton pack strapped there was never a pleasant experience and Holtzmann had just taken two.

Finally, their eyes began to adjust to the red hue of the room cast by the glowing of their packs. They regrouped at the center of the room, visually looking over each other, then to the trap at their feet.

"That supposed to be doin that?" Patty asked, tilting her head at the canister.

"No," Abby and Holtz answered in unison.

The trap had just pulsed with a light glow before vibrating against the concrete and then going still.

"I vote we get that back to the firehouse and transferred into the containment unit ASAP," Erin suggested needlessly.

"Yeah, I'm can get on board with that idea," Patty agreed.

Holtzmann was already leaning over to pick the canister up when Abby noticed her wince and stopped her. Without a word to bring any attention to the engineer, Abby picked up the canister, reattached the pedal and motioned for Holtzmann to follow Patty and Erin up the stairs.

They made it back to the firehouse in record time. Twice more on the drive back the trap had vibrated in Abby's lap and each time she had braced herself for the ghostly woman inside to break out into her face. But the trap had held strong. When they arrived at the firehouse, they'd rushed upstairs with the trap and carefully transferred its resident into the containment unit with Holtzmann's expert precision. Once it was done, they watched the unit silently for a few moments.

"I really wish these lights worked Holtz," Erin voiced, staring up at the useless lights atop the unit.

"Safety lights…" Holtzmann began.

"Are for dudes," Erin and Abby both cut her off, "we know."

Holtzmann grinned at this then gingerly lowered herself to sit at her workbench. The double impact of her pack into her back, along with the hit the specter has landed that sent her into the wall in the first place had taken more of a toll on her than she'd first thought. Now that the adrenaline was wearing thin, she could feel every bruise forming under her jumpsuit.

Her friends were not as oblivious to her discomfort as she'd hoped. Thankfully to Holtzmann, they were tactful in not vocalizing their concerns, which was something Holtzmann was never really comfortable with. Abby had already taken on her protective mother hen role, taking the trap and doing the heavy lifting in transferring the entity into containment. Erin kept giving her sideways glances with unmistakable worry creasing her brows and quickly diverting her eyes when Holtzmann looked at her. Patty had yet to join them in the lab, instead unloading their gear from the car which Holtzmann also usually did.

"You okay?" Erin asked after Abby left the lab.

"Oh yeah, sure," Holtzmann answered with a grin, "You shoulda seen the other guy."

Erin rolled her eyes. She most definitely had seen the "other guy", and she was something truly amazing. Never before had they encountered an entity so strong that they'd worried the trap wouldn't hold it. It was terrifying, yet exciting. They had a new level of activity to study.

"You think she was the scientist?" Holtzmann asked, staring past Erin at the containment unit.

"What scientist?"

"The one whose lab we were in."

"I don't know Holtz. It's possible. She did seem to manifest only after you decided to stay and poke around while we cleared the rest of the house."

"I, do not poke science Erin." Holtzmann corrected, "I catalog and analyze."

"Okay, well maybe she didn't want you cataloging and analyzing her stuff."

Their conversation was interrupted as Abby returned with Patty at her side. She set a bottle of Advil and a bottle of Mountain Dew on the table in front of Holtzmann without a word and joined in where they'd left off.

"Patty's gonna do some digging and see if we can't find anything on that house. If there were any sort of substantial experiments going on down there, there's probably a record of it somewhere."

"Did you manage to ID anything down there Holtzy?" Patty asked, "that could help narrow it down some."

"Sorry Patty," Holtz shook her head, "Abby told me not to touch anything so I was waiting until you all left."

Abby rolled her eyes and asked, "What was going on with the trap?"

"Ah, I have a theory about that," Holtzmann tapped the now empty trap with a screwdriver. "We only have one. It's been used to catch forty-seven ghosts. Long story short, I think it's just outta juice."

"I thought you calibrated it and maintained it after every bust?" Erin asked curiously.

"I do, but even with maintenance, its gotta wear down eventually."

"So, no more capturing anything until you can build a new one?" Abby clarified.

"Don't fret Abs," she smiled end slid off her stool and motioned to a box behind her. "Little help Patty."

Patty rounded the table and lifted the box for the engineer to place on the table. Holtzmann reached inside and pulled out a few various pieces of steel and set them out in a small presentation. When she was done, she beamed brightly at the other three women, who all stared blankly between her and the metal.

"What is it?" Erin was the first to speak.

"Well, at the moment, its junk." Holtzmann grinned, earning another eye roll from Patty and a sigh from Abby.

"What's it going to be?"

"I'm glad you asked Erin! Once my shipment of Uranium and paperclips arrives, its going to be a new and improved portable containment unit, capable of holding not one, not two, but three ghosts at a time. Four if they're small. Like a cat. Or maybe a dog. A small one. Like a Pomeranian. Capable of holding three ghosts and one Pomeranian."

"A ghost Pomeranian?" Abby repeated flatly.

"I'm calling it the Schrodinger."

"The Schrodinger?" Erin questioned, "Why would you call it that?"

"Because Erin, one never knows if what's inside is dead, or alive. It's a mystery until the box is opened. Just like Schrodinger's cat."

"They're ghosts Holtz," Abby replied, "They're dead."

"Are you certain? Cause I'm fairly sure that thing we caught today was not just some standard dead ghost. Not alive obviously, but not quite dead either."

"I guess they aren't really dead until we turn them to slime," Patty added helpfully.

"Precisely," Holtz pointed the screwdriver at Patty in agreement.

"When is it going to be done?" Erin changed the subject.

"Depends on when my shipment gets here. Hopefully by the end of the week."

"Ok, am I the only one here concerned with who sells and delivers stuff like Uranium to people?" Patty interjected.

"And paperclips," Holtz added.

"Don't ask don't tell," Abby shrugged.

"Will the old trap hold until then?" Erin asked the engineer curiously.

"Probably."

"Probably?" Abby parroted back, "You're not sure?"

"I'm about ninety percent sure."

"What's the other ten percent?" Patty asked.

"If we get another one like the last one," Holtzmann shrugged, "To tell you the truth, I'm surprised it held her at all as charged up as she was when we put her in there."

"Speaking of charged up," Abby stepped in, "That was some next level stuff down there. What do you think got her so amped up and how come we didn't detect it until she was right on us?"

Holtzmann shrugged in response. None of them had the answer. The ghost from the basement laboratory was an anomaly. One they intended to study further, once they figured out how to contain it again.

* * *

Author's Note: This is my first fic. Please review and give me feedback! I want to know how I'm doing and your reviews will spur me on! Thanks!


	2. Chapter 2

Author's Note: Thank you so much to the couple of people the left reviews! They really do spur me to keep going knowing people are enjoying reading it.

* * *

Erin held her head between her hands, staring down at the notepad on her desk in front of her. She'd been staring at the equation scratched into the paper for the better part of an hour and was still nowhere near solving it. Every time she'd made progress, a loud bang or smell of something burning pulled her attention away to return only after she was sure crisis had been adverted and they were not going to explode.

Holtzmann had been banging, soldering and welding away at their new ghost trap for nearly three days and Erin was sure she must have scrapped the thing at least a half dozen times. Their lab, which was mostly Holtzmann's lab in which Erin shared a small corner, was strewn with metal shavings, wadded up caution tape and empty takeout containers were beginning to spill over the top of the trashcan. Erin had wanted to clean it up, but restrained herself solely by reminding herself that she wasn't exactly sure what was scraps and what was actual working pieces of tech the engineer was still working with. Her method, much like the engineer herself, was chaotic and unpredictable and Erin had learned early on not to pick up anything in the lab without knowing exactly what it was.

"How's it goin?"

Abby's voice at her side made her jump, scratching a pencil line across the paper in surprise. She looked wide eyed to her friend then took the cup of coffee being offered to her with a shaky hand.

"I didn't hear you come in," she confessed.

"No kidding," Abby laughed, "With all that racket over there it's amazing you don't already have tinnitus."

Erin followed Abby's eyes over to Holtzmann who pulled her goggles over her eyes, oblivious to them watching, and began cutting away at a piece of sheet metal with a power saw. The screeching grind of metal on metal made them both wince. Erin watched the glowing rain of sparks bounce up from the saw and shower down onto the floor, and all the objects stored there.

"God I hate when she does that," Erin grumbled where Abby could barely hear her, "This whole place is going to go up in flames one of these days."

"Nah," Abby shrugged, "If anyone knows how to put out a fire, its Holtzmann. Whatever the chemical, she knows how to douse it."

"That's only mildly comforting."

Abby laughed then motioned back to the notepad on her desk.

"Making any progress?"

"Not really," Erin confessed, "I think I've just been staring at it for too long."

"Hmm. Well Patty's making progress in the history of our scientist house haunting."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah, I'll go get her and see where we are in all of this."

A few minutes later they were all gathered up in the lab, carefully avoiding the metal parts on the floor.

"Alright, so I found out some stuff about that house, and I think I know who our ghost is," Patty started, earning raised eyebrows and undivided attention from the other three women. "I dug back to the mid 30's for ownership of the estate. The house was built by a James Michael Murphy in 1937. He and his wife Rebecca lived there until he died of a heart attack in 1940 but before that he worked for the government under the FDR administration. Now Becca was a real pioneer in nuclear research of her time. There were rumors that she took over her husband's research into nuclear weapons after he died. Basically, this bitch was the Holtzmann of the 40s."

"There were no traces of anything remotely radioactive in that lab," Erin shook her head, "Our equipment would have picked it up, wouldn't it?"

"Depends on the material and the quantity," Holtzmann answered, "Back then they would have been crazy to have any more than a gram of nuclear chemicals present for testing. Anything more and they would have blown themselves, and half the country, into smithereens."

"Yeah man," Patty continued, "lucky for us she never completed it. Rebecca was found dead in that basement in July 1943."

"How did she die?" Abby asked.

"Only old report I could find said they believed she died of inhaling poisonous gas."

"Makes sense," Erin shrugged, "They didn't have nearly the amount of knowledge and access to safety precautions we have now. Who knew what she was inhaling down there."

"So we have a radioactive ghost," Holtz grinned, "Nice!"

"Can I finish?" Patty looked pointedly at the engineer before continuing. "Anyway, I was able to dig up some notes from a few articles, but it's all gibberish to me. Maybe you nerds can make some sense of it."

Patty handed a pad of paper that she'd scribbled down some notes on to Abby and Erin and Holtzmann moved in close to read it over her shoulders. Suddenly Erin's eyes went wide and she looked back up to Patty in surprise.

"Are you sure this was from that lab?" she asked.

"Pretty sure," Patty answered, "It was from an old journal recovered by police when they removed the body. Why? What is it?"

"They were creating fission…" Erin's answer faded off as she drifted into her own thoughts, mind running equations at lightning speed.

"Fission? You mean that stuff from Rowan's sparking things?"

"Sort of. The levels they're implying here are crazy though. I mean, we're talking about a bombardment of 235U and 239Pu."

"They were breaking down subatomic masses." Abby nodded, also getting excited about the implications.

"Hey!" Patty cut in, "Ya'll are gonna have to speak English here."

"They were splitting atoms." Abby said flatly.

"Hang on a sec," Holtz reached under Abby's arm to tap a finger against the paper, "Boron, Aluminum, Plutonium, Uranium, Polonium Beryllium."

"Sounds like they were building a bomb," Erin speculated.

"No. I know this design. Patty, when did you say this was dated?"

"Uhm," Patty took the notebook back and flipped back a few pages, "forty-four."

"You guys," Holtzmann's eyes were alight in the way that made her look like even more of a mad scientist, "This isn't just a bomb. This _the_ bomb!"

"Okay Holtz, you gotta back up and pretend we can't read your mind," Abby prodded, "What is _the_ bomb?"

Holtzmann took a deep shaky breath, doing her best to stamp down her excitement before explaining.

"In nineteen forty-five, scientists constructed a steel containment vessel capable of containing one hundred and eight short tons of high explosives spiked with radioactive isotopes." She paused, giving them a moment to follow her line of thought, "You guys, we're looking at the original designs for the Trinity Gadget!"

"What the hell is the Trinity Gadget?" Patty barked out, frustrated with all the cryptic science talk.

"It was the first nuclear weapon," Erin answered quietly. The color had drained from her face. "It was the predecessor to the nuke they detonated over Nagasaki."

Nobody said anything after that. They were all familiar with the historical detonation of the first wartime atomic bomb. If Holtzmann was right, they were holding in their hands the prequel to one of the most horrific acts of war that history had ever seen and had even captured the ghost of one of the scientists involved in creating it.

"We have to get back to that house," Abby broke their rumination, "we can't leave that stuff there."

"You're right," Erin agreed, "Without Rebecca's ghost down in that lab, her work is there for anyone to find. I think we can all agree the world is better off without ever knowing it existed."

"Lets go get it," Patty voiced her agreement.

They broke apart, each hurrying to their respective working spaces to set aside what they'd been working on before bustling downstairs to the Ecto, none of them noticing the gently flickering of light on Holtzmann's desk, covered by the notepad she'd hurriedly tossed down in her haste to leave.

They returned to the firehouse nearly six hours later. It hadn't taken them long to come up with a story of radioactive residue being left behind by the ghost to explain to the homeowner that they needed to collect everything from the basement lab to prevent any hazardous contamination. She'd been eager to let them remove each item, not even asking questions as to what it had all been used for. They'd been correct in assuming she would just want it all gone so she and her husband could move on with their lives.

Abby was the first to enter the firehouse, pushed the door open, surprised to find the room dark. She took a few steps inside, sliding her hand down the wall, searching for where she knew the light switch was. She found it with ease and flipped it down, then back up. She did it twice more before accepting there would be no light. Erin, Patty and Holtzmann entered behind her, confused by the darkness.

"Did we forget to pay the bill?" Holtzmann joked.

Before anyone could answer her, the lights flickered back on, making them squint by the sudden brightness.

"Hey!" a voice from the desk across the room called to them, "You're back!"

"Were you just sitting there in the dark?" Erin asked Kevin.

"Only for a few minutes," He answered. "I think we might have forgotten to pay the bill."

Holtzmann grinned and smacked Patty's shoulder playfully to emphasize that it had been a good joke.

"I hope that wasn't my job," Kevin looked sullenly at Abby.

"No," she answered, "It's not. I'm sure it was just…"

Before she could finish her sentence, the lights again flickered, briefly going off then flashing back on.

"What the hell was that?" Patty voiced what they were all thinking.

"Some sort of power surge?" Erin offered.

"Kevin," Abby got his attention back with a stern voice, "How long have the lights been doing this?"

"Couple hours."

"A couple hours?! And you didn't think to call and tell us?"

"I figured it was just from the rain."

"I'll check the lab," Holtzmann announced before Abby could respond to Kevin.

"I'll go with her," Erin said, chasing the engineer who was taking the steps two at a time.

"I'll check the breakers," Patty added, leaving the room in the opposite direction.

Holtzmann and Erin got to the lab just as another surge killed the lights again. The dim blinking of light was easy to notice in the darkness, despite being underneath a stack of papers. Holtzmann swore, hurrying for the desk, stepping around the various project parts on the floor. It may look like chaos to everyone else, but it was organized chaos. She placed them for reasons and didn't need to see them to know exactly where they were. Unfortunately, Erin did not. She tried to follow Holtzmann to the blinking light but quickly found herself tripping over something solid and heavy. She prayed nothing would explode as she stumbled, catching another object with her toe and falling forward.

Instead of hitting the floor, her flailing arms were caught in the engineer's strong grip as Holtzmann balanced her. Erin breathed out a thank you, but Holtzmann had already moved on, flinging the papers off the blinking light and swearing under her breath.

"What is that?" Erin asked, carefully shuffling the rest of the way to the table.

"A problem," Holtzmann answered shortly, "The backup batteries are drained. The surge protector isn't working."

"Wait, it's a safety light?" Erin would have laughed had Holtzmann not been so serious, tossing things aside and digging through boxes.

"I need two more batteries," Holtzmann barked and pressed a flashlight into the palm of Erin's hand, "They're in the third locker from the right. Bottom shelf."

Erin hurried to the locker and pulled it open. She pulled at one of the large batteries with her free hand, frowning when it didn't budge. They were a lot heavier than they looked. At Holtzmann's urging to hurry up, she put the flashlight under her left arm and used both hands to drag the battery from the locker. She grunted with effort and waddled under its weight as she walked it back over to the engineer. She took quick notice of Holtzmann splicing some wires and expertly running cables from a now open panel on the containment unit before scurrying back to the locker for the second battery. When she set the second battery down, Holtzmann had already attached the cables to the first one and was sliding a spent battery from its compartment in the unit, making it look much easier than Erin knew it was.

"What's going on Holtz?"

"Just a minor setback," She lied.

In the beam of Erin's flashlight, she noticed the shimmer of sweat beading on the engineer's forehead, which made her even more nervous. She worked quickly, threading wires from the open panel to the batteries and typing a few things into the keypad on the front of the unit. The more time that ticked by, the more quickly the engineer worked, and the more anxious Erin became.

The sudden pulse of electricity made Erin's heart skip a beat in her chest as she watched the static arch pop from the cable in Holtzmann's hand to the battery she was connecting it to. Holtzmann jerked back away from the jolt with enough force that her back collided with the metal cabinet behind her, knocking it over with a loud crash. Erin was moving instantly to help her when the lights of the room blinded her as they kicked back on and the containment unit hummed back to life.

"Erin!" Abby was shouting from the stairs, "Holtzmann!"

Erin called back to her and spun around to face Holtzmann, who was slowly attempting to push herself up from the pile of fire extinguishers and baking soda boxes that had spilled out of the toppled cabinet.

"Holtz, are you alright?" she asked, helping her to her feet.

Holtzmann looked stunned, cradling her right hand to her chest and glaring at the containment unit. Erin repeated her question, as Abby and Patty entered the room. The commotion of their entry gained the attention of the engineer and she blinked hard a few times, clearing her head.

"Yeah," she said quietly, then cleared her throat, "Yeah, I'm okay."

"Are you sure?" Erin was skeptical, "Maybe you should sit down for a minute."

"No, I'm fine," Holtzmann shook her head, "We have to stabilize the containment unit. It can't run off those batteries alone for long."

"What happened to it?" Abby asked.

"Massive power surge of some kind. Something overloaded the generator and drained the backup batteries."

"Lightning maybe?" Patty suggested.

Abby watched Holtzmann take a few steps toward the unit, smearing blood from her injured hand as she ran it over its metal surface as if she was admiring it. Abby turned to Erin, who frowned and shook her head in response.

"Holtzmann?" Abby said quietly. When she didn't respond, she stepped up next to her and set her hand on her shoulder and spun her slowly to face her. When their eyes met, she saw confusion in them.

"Are you okay? Did you hit your head?"

Holtzmann stared at her blankly for a fraction of a second before answering uncomfortably.

"I'm fine Abs. Just got a little jolt that's all."

Abby held her gaze for a few more seconds before releasing her to turn back to the unit. She typed a few buttons on the keypad before frowning at it and typing them again.

"What is it?" Erin asked.

"Its…" Holtz paused, running hundreds of possibilities through her head, "Its stable."

"How is it stable? You just said it can't run off the batteries alone."

"It can't."

"Alright Holtzy," Patty's voice sounded harsh after the softer tone the rest of them had taken, "I know you're a little crispy fried around the edges right now, but ya need to make up your mind about that thing. Cause if its gonna explode or somethin', I'd rather not be in the same room with it."

Holtzmann mulled this over for a few second before looking to each one of them. She'd been zapped by one of her machines more times than she could remember, but her brain had never felt so foggy afterwards before. Maybe Abby was right. Maybe she had hit her head on something in her tumble into the steel cabinet.

"I'll run some tests," she shrugged and unconsciously rubbed the back of her head, "may be just a fluke, but we need to know for sure."


	3. Chapter 3

It took almost four hours for Holtzmann to run a full diagnostic on the containment unit. It was nearly 2am when she'd finally finished it. Patty and Abby had turned in for the night, opting to sleep in the third-floor living quarters instead of going home. Erin had done her best to keep up with Holtzmann's tenacious search for answers, but had lost her fight with sleep shortly after midnight. Holtz glanced over at the physicist sleeping, head down on her desk in the corner of the room. She's going to have one hell of a sore neck in the morning. Holtz thought to herself.

She slid off her stool, walked across the room and kneeled next to Erin's chair. She placed a hand on the redhead's shoulder and gave it a gentle shake. Erin snorted as she sat up, eyes still closed and swayed in her chair.

"What?" Erin mumbled through her sleep, "I'm up. What do you need me to do?"

"Go to bed Erin," Holtz answered.

"Did you fix the containment unit?"

"Yeah, about that," Holtzmann pushed herself back up to her feet, "there's nothing wrong with it."

Erin's eyes blinked open at this, quickly finding the blonde and staring, "What do you mean nothing's wrong with it? What about the power surge and the batteries? I mean, that thing electrocuted you."

"It did not," Holtz defended her machine, "Mild shock at best."

"Whatever it was, what caused it?"

Holtzmann shrugged. She didn't have an answer for her. She had run diagnostic after diagnostic and re-calibrated every circuit she could. The power levels remained steadily running off the building's power supply and showed no signs of fluctuating.

"So, it really could have been the storm?"

Holtzmann shook her head, frustrated, "No, I don't think so."

Erin studied her colleague for a moment. Her shoulders were slumped, the dark circles under her eyes emphasized how red they were, and her wild hair had fallen loose in spots in the back. She looked exhausted.

"You need to get some sleep Holtz. We can all take another look at it in the morning with fresh eyes."

"Yeah, I guess," Holtzmann shrugged. She hated leaving a job undone, but she was tired and her head ached.

Erin seemed to read her mind and gave her a sympathetic smile before patting a hand on her shoulder and leading her up to their sleeping quarters.

* * *

Fire. Fire burned all around her. She couldn't remember when it had started or where, or what had caused it. She blinked as smoke attacked her eyes, making them burn and water. She wiped at them frantically with her gloved hands, clearing her vision and scanning her surroundings. Rubble lay everywhere. Piles of shattered cinder block, wood fragments, and broken asphalt surrounded her. She took a step forward, looking up into the smoky, star littered sky. She was suddenly aware of the familiar weight on her back and the straps digging into her shoulders. She was wearing her proton pack and coveralls. But if she was suited up, where were the others?

"Erin?" She yelled into the fire, "Abby? Patty?"

She searched the area quickly, getting more and more panicked when she couldn't find her teammates anywhere. The fire was getting hotter and the smoke thicker. She wouldn't be able to stay much longer. She coughed and staggered around a pile of debris and her boot connected with something. She looked down, and her chest clenched. A bloody hand stuck out from under a large pile of debris at her foot.

"No, no no no," she panicked, dropping to her knees and digging, tossing pieces of stone and wood from around the arm until she reached her face.

Lines of blood had cut paths through the dirt and grime on her face and pooled on the floor beneath her head. Her vibrant blue eyes were dull through a postmortem film and stared straight ahead, lifeless.

Holtzmann sat back onto her feet, trying to choke back the tears that were blinding her. She still had to find the others. Abby and Patty could still be alive somewhere. She had to find them.

"Holtzmann."

Holtzmann spun on her knees, blinking through her tears to focus on the owner of the voice. The relief she felt at the sight nearly toppled her over. Abby was there, standing tall and alive and Patty was standing just a few steps behind her.

"Abby," she choked out, "Erin…"

"You did this."

Holtzmann froze, staring at Abby. She didn't look sad, she looked furious, and behind her Patty held the same look of rage.

"What?" she stammered, "I…"

"You did this," Abby repeated and reached for the wand on her back.

Holtzmann whipped her head from Abby to look at Erin. Poor, sweet, lovable Erin. How did this happen? She couldn't remember anything. She forced herself to look away, back to Abby, who now had the wand pointing at her and her pack humming to life.

Holtz didn't argue or plead for her life. If she was somehow responsible for Erin's death, then she deserved this. She would never endanger her family. Everything had happened so fast. She just couldn't remember. She let her stare falter from Abby and caught sight of a reflective surface behind her. Some sort of broken mirror. But she wasn't interested at all in what sort of surface it was. She was stunned at what looked back at her. The face that looked back at her held no tear soaked cheeks, no wild blonde hair and no yellow glasses. The woman staring back at her was a stranger. Long brown braided hair and sharp cheekbones. But her eyes were what had captivated her the most. Blue and green spirals of glowing light spun brightly within their irises.

"Abby!" Holtzmann tried to warn her of the danger, but was stunned when the reflections mouth moved with her words.

"I'm sorry Holtz," Abby's voice cracked and Holtzmann looked back to her.

"No! Abby, look!"

"I'm sorry."

Abby's thumb pressed the trigger and the burst of light of proton energy consumed her with a wailing scream ringing through her ears.

Holtzmann jerked awake with a gasp, sitting up quickly in her bunk. She blinked hard a few times, forcing her eyes to adjust to the dark. With every blink, visions of Erin's dead eyes, or Abby's accusing glare flashed through her mind. She fought to calm her breathing as the darkness of the room seemed to close in on her. She untangled her legs from her blanket and rolled over until her feet hit the cold concrete floor and hurried to the door. As quietly as she could, she exited the room, latching the door behind her and then bolted to the closest bathroom.

Her stomach twisted in knots and the muscles in her back screamed at her as she was well and thoroughly sick. When the dry heaving had stopped, she flushed away the evidence of her ordeal and sat back against the wall, tilting her head back to rest against the cool bricks.

"Holtz?"

She jumped in surprise at the sudden voice on the other side of the door.

"Holtz, are you okay?"

It was Erin. Poor, sweet, dead…no, not dead.

"Get a grip," she whispered to herself, before pushing herself up to her feet and opening the door.

"Erin," she greeted quietly, "What are you doing up?"

"I felt you get up," she answered, "I was worried. Are you okay?"

Holtzmann winced. Erin was sleeping above her on the top bunk. Of course she'd felt her wake up. She'd probably shaken the whole bed when she'd sat up from the dream. The downside to bunk beds and yet, she'd been the one to insist the get them.

"Oh, yeah, I'm fine," she avoided looking at her. The images from the dream were still too raw.

"Are you sick?"

She did look at her then. Had she been standing outside the door the whole time? She considered lying, but knew she wasn't any good at it. She was covered in sweat, though she wasn't sure if it was from puking her guts up or the nightmare.

"I need to lay off the junk food," she smirked.

Erin did a quick scan of the blonde as she shuffled from one foot to the other nervously. Though it had been a couple hours since they had left the lab and turned in for some sleep, she somehow looked even more exhausted. Her eyes were redder, circles darker, and her damp tank top clung to her clammy skin.

"Are you sure? she asked, concerned, "Holtz, if you hit your head in that fall earlier, you could have a concussion. Nausea can be a serious symptom."

Holtzmann mulled over this for a few moments. It would make sense that the rattling of her brain in her skull could have caused such a vivid dream and even the nausea that followed.

"Nothing I can't handle."

That was all Erin was going to get. Holtzmann needed to get her mind focused on something else. So, she gave her friend a reassuring smile and walked away.

Erin watched the engineer leave, walking passed the bedroom door and disappearing down the stairs toward the sanctuary of her lab. She thought about following her, but Holtzmann wasn't one for hovering. Her presence there would only irritate her and make it even harder for her to relax. So Erin re-entered the bedroom as quietly as she could.

"She okay?" Patty's whisper startled her. Apparently, she hadn't been the only one woken up by the bed rustling and abrupt exit of their youngest member.

"She said she's fine."

Patty didn't reply. There was nothing more to say about it. Holtz would be reckless, stubborn, carefree Holtzmann. They'd be there if she needed them, but until then, they'd give her her space.

Downstairs, Holtzmann pulled open her locker and retrieved her burgundy satin robe and pulled it on to ward off the chill of the air on her drying skin. She padded across the small kitchen area and proceeded to put on a pot of coffee, adding two extra scoops for good measure. She could already feel the anxiousness of the nightmare fading. But if she was going to me anything more than a walking zombie for the rest of the day, she was going to need the caffeine. While the coffee brewed, she wandered around aimlessly. She stopped at Patty's desk, picked up the notebook from top and read over the notes scribbled across the page. Boring. She put it down and picked up another. Something about a retired battleship dry docked at a harbor in Jersey. Cool. She puts it down, shuffles through a few more papers, glancing only briefly at them as she purposely mixes them up. She smirks, thinking about Patty's reaction when she notices the mess.

She moves away from the desk, taking only a few steps before she freezes. A strange tingling sensation creeps up from the back of her mind making her feel light headed for a moment then suddenly she's focused sharply. She turns quickly, hurries back to the desk and scatters the papers, spilling some on the floor. She finds the one she had spotted and reads it over. The Trinity Gadget.

 _Ugh. What a stupid name. Why would they call it that?_

The voice in her mind makes her shake her head. She doesn't know why they called it that. She reads over the notes. She'd seen them already when Patty had first told them about the laboratory and the device, but its suddenly as if she's hearing it again for the first time and the information makes her feel angry. The notion confuses her. Why is she suddenly angry about something that happened well before she was even born.

The coffee machine beeps, pulling her attention away. She mechanically drops the papers back to the desk and follows the sound back to the kitchen. She fills a mug with the strong brew and carries it back up the stairs to her lab. She has work to do.

* * *

Erin wake again when the sun begins peeking through the curtains. She rolls over and looks at her watch. 7 o'clock. Patty and Abby are still sleeping on the other bunk across the room. She rubs her eyes with her palms, then rolls over and leans over the side of the bed to look at the bunk below her. It's empty. She climbs down, noticing Abby roll over to look at the source of the sound.

"She ever come back?" she croaked out, causing Patty to roll over and look at her as well. Apparently neither of them had actually been sleeping.

"Doesn't look like it."

"Aw Man," Patty grumbled and sits up as Abby begins climbing down to the floor.

They enter the lab as a group and as they expected, Holtzmann was sitting at her workbench holding a cup of coffee. What they didn't expected was the blank stare she had locked on the opposite wall. They shared a wary look between themselves as they approached her. She didn't seem to have any clue they were there.

"Holtz?" Abby spoke softly.

The engineer jumped in surprise, splashing coffee from her mug up onto her chest and into her lap.

"Oh shoot," Abby quickly grabbed the nearby roll of paper towels and hurried the help her wipe herself off, "I'm sorry!"

"Oh, it's okay. It's fine. It's...," her eyebrows furrowed in confusion, "it's cold."

Abby stopped dabbing at the mess and frowned at her friend. Erin and Patty stepped up to the table as well, watching the duo.

"Why are you drinking cold coffee?" Erin asked.

"I…" Holtz looked down at the now nearly empty mug, then up at her colleagues again. "It…It was hot when I started."

"You must have been really deep into whatever you were working on then," Abby replied, "I have never seen you waste a cup of coffee. What have you been working on that's so much more important than sleeping?"

Holtz opened her mouth to answer, then shut it, looking around at her workbench. There was nothing there. She had been working on something. She had to have been. Her vision zeroed in on the empty desk. Her chest clenched making her gasp. How long had she been just sitting there staring at the wall? Long enough for her coffee to go cold in her hand. What the hell was going on?

"Aight, that's it," Patty blurted out, "What is goin' on with you Baby?"

"I'm fi…"

"Nope," Patty cut her off, "Not fine, try again."

"But…" Holtz began, breathing quickly, but was again cut off.

"Nah!"

"Patt…"

"Holtzy! I swear to God, I'm 'bout two seconds from physically carryin' your dainty ass to a hospital to get that brilliant, but crazy, head of yours scanned."

There was a long pause with Patty standing with hands on her hips, daring anyone to argue. Holtzmann stared back at her with a confusing array of emotions crossing her face, and appeared to be holding her breath. Abby and Erin watched on as the two engaged in a silent battle of wills.

"You're right." Holtz finally breathed out, before hiccuping another inhale.

The response from the engineer left them all speechless and slack jawed for a moment.

"I am?" Patty's hands fell from her hips.

"Something..." her breathing suddenly started picking up more speed, "Somethings, not right. Up here," she tapped a finger against her right temple.

"Ok," Abby stepped in, "Everyone just calm down. Come sit down Holtz. Erin grab her a blanket will ya please?"

Erin's brows furrowed at the odd request until she noticed that Holtzmann's hands shook with slight tremors. She was shivering. Erin scurried away to the bedroom to retrieve the blanket from Holtzmann's bunk. When she reached for it she instantly remembered the amount of sweat Holtz had been covered in after waking up in the night. Instead she grabbed the blanket from her own bunk and hurried back to the lab where Abby had settled Holtzmann into sitting on the couch next to her. Erin wrapped the blanket around her shoulders and sat down on her other side.

"It's alright Holtz," Abby said softly running her hand up and down the blonde's back, trying to ease the tremors, "Just breathe okay. You gotta slow down."

Erin watched Holtzmann's bandaged hand clench and unclench into a fist as she fought to control the sudden outpour of adrenaline which Erin knew all too well. She was no stranger to the overwhelming pressure on her chest which came with no discernable cause. The panic that set in when she was unable to catch her breath. The panic made it difficult to breathe and the difficulty breathing made her panic. It was a vicious cycle. But she had never witnessed it as an outside party before. She was usually the one suffering, who Abby had always talked through it as a teenager with crippling anxiety. She didn't have time to dwell when Patty pulled her from the memories as she reentered the room after running back to the bedroom to retrieve her cell phone. She held it up, ready to dial for an ambulance the second Abby gave the word.

"Not yet," Abby said quickly., "Giver her a minute."

Before Abby could do anything more to help, Holtzmann pushed their hands away, pitching forward and heaved what little amount of coffee she'd managed to drink onto the concrete floor. Abby and Erin were instantly at her sides keeping her from falling on her face when her arms gave out. Abby fell back onto her butt, pulling the engineer back with her and pulled her back into her chest, wrapping her arms around her.

"Call 'em Patty!"

Abby was no longer calm. This wasn't a simple Erin Gilbert panic attack. This was something else entirely. Holtzmann was gasping and shivering despite the sweat that had begun beading on her face and drenching her tank top and robe. Erin grabbed the blanket from the couch and wrapped it around her as best as she could. She didn't know what else to do. Holtzmann's head tipped back, resting on Abby's shoulder and Abby turned to speak directly into her ear.

"Holtzmann, you listen to me," she spoke between clenched teeth, "Just breathe. Feel my chest moving? Breathe with me."

Holtz braced her foot against the floor, pushing herself back further into Abby's chest as her eyes clenched shut and she groaned in pain. She did this twice more, fighting to follow the directions Abby repeated in her ear before she finally started to slow down.

The sounds of her ragged breathing was finally drown out by the tromping boots from the stairs as the paramedics, led by Patty, entered the room and surrounded the two women.

"Whats her name?" Someone asked Erin as they pushed passed her.

"Holtz...Jillian." she answered, watching as the went to work.

"Jillian?" The tallest of them called out to her, "Jillian, can you hear me?"

Holtz didn't respond, and Abby turned her head, attempting to see if she was even still awake.

"Are you good to stay there for a few minutes?" One of the medics asked Abby.

Abby nodded yes and he quickly pulled an oxygen mask from a bag and handed it to Abby, directing her to put it over her Holtz's mouth and nose. Abby followed the instructions as he and the other two medics went to work attaching electrodes and monitors to various parts of her friend. While this happened, Abby noticed that Holtzmann was slowly becoming more and more limp in her arms as her breathing evened out. The breathing comforted her while the unconsciousness worried her even more.

While Erin and Patty watched everything unfold in front of them, the youngest looking of the medics carried a tablet over to them and began asking them questions and it wasn't until then that either of them realized how little personal information they actually knew about their friend.

After a few minutes, they moved Holtz off of Abby to load her onto a gurney, and Abby pushed herself up to stand with Erin and Patty.

"I'll get the car," Patty announced to them.

"I'm going with her," Erin said before Abby could suggest otherwise.

"Go," Abby instructed, nodding toward the medic pushing the now occupied gurney toward the exit.

On the way out the door, Erin passed by Kevin who was just arriving. He pointed over his shoulder with his thumb to the gurney, confused.

"What happened?"

"I don't know yet, Kevin. Take the day off okay. We aren't taking any calls today."

* * *

They sat in the waiting area of the hospital for three hours before a doctor came out to get them. They jumped up from their seats the moment they saw him coming.

"Jillian Holtzmann?" he asked them.

"Yes," Erin answered, "Whats going on? Is she okay?"

"She's just fine," he answered with a smile. "Everything came back negative. We believe she may have simply had a panic attack brought on by stress. Has she been overly stressed at work lately?"

Simple Panic attack, Erin thought to herself. Easy for him to say. He's obviously never had one.

"I've seen panic attacks before Doctor," Abby shook her head, "That's not what this was."

"Do you have another idea?"

"She may have gotten a concussion yesterday evening," Erin spoke up, "Could that be a factor."

"Well it wouldn't help things, but I don't believe that's what could have caused the episode she suffered. You're welcome to go back and speak with her yourselves."

They jumped up, eager to get to their friend. When they entered the room, Holtzmann was sitting up on the bed, head tilted back staring at the ceiling.

"Holtz!" Abby called out, and she lifted her head to look at them and smiled, "Don't ever do that to us again, you hear me. You scared the hell out of us!"

"I'm sorry Abs. I gotta say it wasn't any fun for me either though."

"Man, I'm sorry if I caused that attack Holtzy," Patty apologized.

"What?!" Holtz shook her head, "Not a chance Patty. Something was going on up here before you even came in the lab.

"Speaking of that?" Erin said, "

"Welcome to the world of anxiety," Abby gave her shoulder a squeeze. "Meet Erin, she's the Mayor of this town."

Holtzmann turned her head to look at Erin and Erin gave her a sympathetic smile.

"This happens to you?"

"Not for a while," Erin shrugged, "But it used to happen all the time. Like she said, I'm the Mayor."

Holtz lifted her bandaged hand, still slightly trembling. "Nice to meet you Mayor. I suppose I'm your newest resident."

Erin chuckled and gently shook her hand. Her smile instantly fell when she felt the wetness on her palm. Before Holtzmann could pull her hand away, Erin gripped it with both hands and turned it over. The clenching fist had reopened the wound which had now seeped through the bandage, but it wasn't the blood that Erin had fixated on.

"Is that what I think it is?" Patty asked, having stepped in close to see what Erin had become so focused on.

A mixture of red and green spotted the white bandage covering Holtzmann's palm. The red was to be expected, but green. When Holtz realized what Erin had discovered, she stood up quickly, ripping the bandage away from her hand and scowling at the open wound on her palm.

"Oh my god," Erin gasped, grabbing her hand again.

"Oh man," Patty groaned, pointing at the wound, "That's slime man. You're bleedin' slime."

"How?" Erin shook her head, "How's this even possible."

Holtzmann was about to start freaking out again, when it suddenly hit her. It all made sense. The containment unit malfunction, the nightmare, the anxiety attach, the slime. She ripped her hand from Erin's grip and made for the door.

"We haveta get back to the lab!"

"What? No Holtzmann, you need to just sit here and relax. That attack was your body telling you to stop."

"No, I don't think it was." Holtz shook her head and pulled the door open, "The doctor already cleared me. I'm going back with or without you guys."

With that she left the room and her three gaping friends behind. They shared a look among them before sprinting for the door to follow her. They caught up to her at the elevator. They drove in relative silence on the way back, no one really knowing what to say. Erin shared the backseat with Holtzmann and watched her fidget nervously the entire ride back.

"Holtz," she whispered, "Whats back at the lab?"

"Just a hunch Erin, I just really gotta check on something."

Holtzmann was practically vibrating with pent up energy when they arrived at the firehouse. Before the garage door had even closed she was out of the car and running for the lab.

"Damn it," Abby swore watching her go, and hopped out with the others to chase after her.

When they caught up she was frantically typing at the keypad of the containment unit, staring at the display screen. It beeped and she tensed before her shoulders drooped and all the air left her lungs in a whoosh.

"What?" Abby asked while moving in to help again, if another attack was about to happen.

"I figured out what happened with the unit."

"Holtzmann, I don't care about the unit. We're more worried about you right now."

"The two really aren't mutually exclusive."

"That's good right?" Patty asked, "You can fix it?"

Holtzmann turned and looked to her three best friends, her family, and tried to swallow the lump in her throat. She looked to Abby, knowing she would take what she was about to say the hardest. She had the only first hand experience.

"The unit is fine."

"But?" Abby prodded.

"We've captured forty-seven ghosts and put them in here."

"Sounds right."

"There's only forty-six."

Erin spoke up after a long pause, "What do you mean there's only forty-six? What happened to the forth-seventh?"

"Our new guest is one clever girl."

"Holtz? What are you saying here?"

Holtzmann looked down at her hand, then back up at Erin and tapped a finger to her right temple again.

"I think I have a stowaway."

* * *

Authors Note: Sorry for the long delay. I hope you're still with me here. Drop me a review and let me know what you think!


	4. Chapter 4

Author's Note: So sorry it has taken me so long to update this! Things have been crazy. I promise I will try and get the next chapter out sooner! Hope you all are still enjoying it. Drop me a note after and let me know what you think!

* * *

"I think I have a stowaway."

The words reverberated through Erin's entire body, clenching her chest in a panic and fogging her brain with questions. She hadn't been there when Rowan had taken over Abby and attacked the others. Was Rebecca Murphy planning to do the same using Holtzmann? Had she already done something while they were asleep? How could this have happened?

"Holtzmann?" It was Abby that broke the silence. "Are you sure?"

Holtz's eyes went wide and wild in way that Abby had never seen in them before. Not the excited twinkle she got when she was working on a new project, or even the manic thrill she wore when fighting ghosts. These eyes bore straight into Abby's soul and Abby instantly understood. The fearless, laid back Jillian Holtzmann was terrified.

"Wait," Erin stepped in, pulling Holtzmann's eyes from Abby's, "Let's just think about this for a second. First off, what would Rebecca Murphy's ghost gain from possessing Holtzmann? From possessing any of us? Second, how would she even do it? You said yourself, the containment unit is fully functional."

"It is now. It wasn't before." Holtz answered, "Something caused those power surges, and I think that was her working her way out. I think…I think that my hooking up those batteries gave her the exact line of current she needed to make the jump."

"That doesn't explain why," Erin argued, "and even if she escaped containment, how do you know she's in your head?"

Erin spun away from Holtzmann before she could answer any of the rapid fire questions, "Abby, when Rowan possessed you, did you know it?"

"Well, yeah I knew it," Abby frowned, "it was like watching everything unfold around me but not being able to do anything about it but scream. Lot of good it did though. I still threw Holtzmann out the window."

Erin spun back around to Holtzmann, "Any of that sound familiar Holtz?"

Holtzmann thought for a moment then shook her head. "I feel fine now."

"So what makes you think she's in your head and didn't just escape containment?"

"I don't know. The lost time, weird dream, and not to mention the so-called panic attack. I'm not typically a panicker."

"And the bleeding slime," Abby added.

"Yeah man," Patty nodded, "the slime thing is pretty whack."

Erin mulled it over for a few seconds. She thought back to waking up with Holtzmann being sick and the blank stare she'd been sporting when they found her in the lab. Something was definitely off, but was it really a possession?

"I don't think you're possessed," Erin said, shaking her head.

"I never said I was possessed," Holtzmann replied, "I said I have a stowaway."

"Meaning?" Abby asked, confused.

"She's hiding," Erin whispered, connecting the dots Holtzmann had been hinting at. Holtz confirmed her with a nod.

"Why?" Abby asked, "What does she want?"

"I don't know," Holtzmann shook her head frantically, "but I don't really wanna find out. We just fixed the window from that little poof a few weeks ago."

"None of this makes sense," Erin shook her head, "Every time we've encountered possessions, they have been blatant, aggressive possessions. She was clearly malevolent down in that basement, so why is she just hiding now?"

"Maybe escaping containment drained her energy?" Abby suggested.

"What if what happened to Holtz this morning wasn't a panic attack at all, but rather her body's reaction to Rebecca's ghost trying to take control?" Erin added.

"She wasn't strong enough to take over, but the attempt confused her nervous system to the point of going haywire and shutting down."

They paused to look at Holtz, who shrugged back at them. She had no idea what had happened to her earlier. She'd been burned, zapped, and jolted numerous times, but never haywired. She remembered trying to tell Patty that she couldn't breathe and that her hands were tingling, but Patty was on a rant and wouldn't listen. She vaguely remembered Abby speaking directly into her ear, begging her to breathe. Then the next thing she remembered was waking up in a hospital room, feeling as if she'd pulled an all-nighter with her good friend Jack Daniels. She didn't know if that's what a nervous system going haywire felt like, but she did know is that she hoped it never happened again.

"Holtz?"

"Huh?" she blinked, pulling her attention away from her thoughts and back to her friends, who stared at her in varying states of alarm.

"You okay?" Abby asked.

"Yeah, yeah, sorry. What did I miss?"

"I asked what happened last night that got you out of bed?" Erin repeated her unanswered question.

"Oh," Holtz winced, remembering the horrible image of her dead friend and Abby's actions that had woken her, "I, uh, I had a nightmare."

"Related to the ghost?"

"Yeah I guess so."

"Well?" Patty urged her to continue.

"Well what?"

Patty groaned, "I swear to God Baby, one of these days…What was the dream about?"

"A fire. Maybe an explosion or something. You were there," Holtz pointed at Patty with a smirk before pointing to Abby, "and you were there. And you…" she froze, finger pointing at Erin. The image of her bloodied face flashed in her mind.

"I was what?" Erin shifted uncomfortably.

"I, uhm, I don't remember you being there." Holtz lied, smirk gone and finger dropping.

"Anything else?" Abby prodded.

"Just lots of fire, and you guys blamed me for it. Granted, most of the time when there's an explosion, I am the cause of it."

"What else?"

"I don't know Abby," Holtz rubbed the back of her neck, suddenly exhausted, "What does it matter? It was just some dumb dream.

"Humor me."

"There was some lady there. Appeared in the mirror and just watched you shoot me."

"Wait, Abby shot you?" Erin frowned, "With her pack?"

"What did she look like?" Abby interrupted before Holtzmann could answer Erin.

"Like your typical ghost. Old unimaginative clothes, long braid, brown hair. She didn't say anything. Just stood there watching."

"Patty, did you find any photos of Rebecca Murphy in your research?"

"Yeah, I did," Patty nodded, already rushing down to her desk to retrieve her notes. When she returned she pulled the photo from the stack of notes and handed it to Abby.

"This the lady Holtz?"

Holtzmann looked down at the photo and frowned. The woman in the photo was standing poised and rigid in a nearly identical, boring dress and long braid wrapped into a bun. She handed the photo back to Abby with a quick nod.

"What does any of this mean?" Erin was frustrated now.

"I don't know," Abby confessed, "but I don't think she should be left alone until we figure it out. Sorry Holtz."

"I could think of worse babysitters," Holtz flashed a wink at Erin, who rolled her eyes in return.

"So what, just business as usual until that thing is strong enough to really take over?" Patty asked, "cause I gotta say, I'm not one hundred percent okay with that."

"I don't think any of us are okay with any of this Patty," Erin replied, "But we don't really have a choice until we know what she wants."

Patty shrugged, not having any other options, and they broke apart to their respective areas of the firehouse. Holtzmann retrieved the new trap prototype she had been working on and set it on her workbench. She could already feel Erin's eyes boring into her from across the room, which normally would open her up for relentless teasing, but now it just irritated her.

" _Okay Lady"_ , she thought to herself, hoping the spirit in her brain could somehow hear her, _"Whatever you're gonna do, let's just do it quick. These shoes are not for walking on eggshells."_

* * *

Erin had been working quietly at her desk, listening to the sound of metal and drilling for nearly four hours, periodically glancing up to check on the engineer before she noticed a slight change in her demeanor. It was a subtle difference, but Erin noticed the slouch to her shoulders and the slow motion of her hands, which no longer seemed to be working with much purpose. She watched her silently for a few moments, studying her face before deciding that she wasn't about to be taken over by a malevolent ghost, but rather was exhausted and fighting to keep herself upright and working.

"Holtz?" Erin spoke quietly.

"Huh?" she acknowledged without looking up.

"You okay?"

"Still me, if that's what you're asking."

"It's not."

Holtzmann looked up with a heavy blink and let out a sigh.

"Sorry, it's been a weird day."

"It's fine Holtz. I'd be surprised if you weren't a little cranky, and no offense, but you look exhausted."

"I'd only be offended if you weren't right." She shrugged, "Who woulda thought that little sleep and having a ghost induced panic attack would take so much outa you?"

"Why don't you go lay down for awhile. A nap might help."

Erin expected the engineer to scoff at the suggestion and opt for a pot of coffee or a bottle of Mountain Dew but was slightly taken aback when she just nodded her agreement, thanked her for keeping on eye on here and shuffled slowly out of the lab. She sat staring at the empty door behind her for a few minutes before standing, stretching her back and making her way down the stairs to where Abby and Patty were sitting, chatting at the kitchen counter.

"How's it going up there?" Abby asked, pouring a cup of coffee and handing it to Erin.

"Good I guess," she answered with a frown, "Holtz was starting to look really tired, so I suggested she take a break and catch a nap. Is it weird that she actually agreed and went to lay down?"

"Normally I'd say yes," Abby replied, "But she did get taken to the hospital after collapsing in the lab earlier this morning. That would take a lot out of anyone. Even Jillian Holtzmann."

"I suppose."

"Notice anything else out of the ordinary?"

"Nothing. I mean, she's obviously annoyed by all of this, but nothing that suggested she wasn't herself."

"Well, as happy as I am to hear she's still our Holtzy," Patty cut in, "but what are we going to do to keep her that way?"

"I was thinking about that," Erin replied, "Maybe we can use something we found in Rebecca's lab to draw her out."

"I'm sorry, but wouldn't that just leave us with a fully possessed, and probably pissed off, Holtzmann?" Patty asked.

"Maybe, but then we could at least talk to her. Maybe find out what it is she wants."

"You mean like Rowan wanting to destroy our entire plane of existence?" Abby asked suspiciously, "a repeat talk of pestering the living?"

"Well yeah, but at least he let us know where we stood. If this ghost in Holtzmann has some evil agenda, I think we should know about it. Don't you?"

"I guess. I just worry about what that will do to Holtz. I mean, look at Rowan."

"Yeah but he was evil before he died. Holtzmann doesn't have an evil bone in her body."

Their conversation was cut off by a loud crash from the lab upstairs. Without missing a beat, they broke apart and ran up the stairs and piled into the lab, stopping just inside the door to stare at the engineer standing over the shattered pieces of the prototype trap at her feet. Abby risked a glance behind the blonde to the rack containing their proton packs, doing a quick calculation on how quickly she could get around her and retrieve it. It was no good, she was standing right in between them. Without a diversion, she'd never get passed her.

Holtzmann spun around to face them, face twisting between a look of fear, pain and confusion. She stumbled a few steps backwards, bumping into the workbench and gliding her hand over it, reaching and grasping until she gripped a large steel pipe and lifted it in front of her like an Olympic fencer.

"Back up!" she yelled.

"Holtzmann?" Erin spoke softly, failing to cover the tremor in her voice, and raised her hands to show them to her friend.

"I…I can't… just back up!" she yelled again, wincing and rubbing at her right temple roughly with her free hand while swinging the pipe with the other.

"Fight her Holtz," Abby called out, taking a step forward.

"Abby?" she asked between clenched teeth, breathing rapidly as a tear rolled down one cheek.

"Yeah Holtz," Abby forced a smile, "It's me. We're right here. Just drop the pipe."

"I can't." Holtzmann stuttered and took another step backwards until her back was against the wall. "Take me back. I have to go back."

"Back where?" Erin asked.

The pipe dropped from her hand with a loud clang against the floor and Abby made the dash to grab her proton pack from the rack as the blonde slid down the wall to curl up on the floor, gripping her head between her hands, growling in pain, fighting against her own mind. Patty followed grabbing her pack and hoping to god she didn't have to use it.

Slowly, the woman stopped writhing and began to relax, resting her forehead against the cool tile and her breathing evened out until she ceased doing anything at all, laying as if sleeping curled up on the floor.

Erin looked to Abby, hands still raised up dumbly in front of her. Abby shrugged while still aiming at the still form of her friend. Knowing they had her covered, Erin slowly stepped toward her, carefully dropping to her knee and reached a trembling hand to the engineer's shoulder.

"Five more minutes," the woman groaned into the floor and Erin's eyes shot up to meet Abby's before looking back down at her friend.

"Holtz?" she asked, rubbing her shoulder again.

This time the blonde reached back and shoved her hand away from her, "Beat it Gilbert. I said five more minutes."

"Holtzy!" Patty yelled, making them all jump, "If that's you, you get your ass up now and tell us what the hell just happened!"

Holtzmann turned her head to glare at the noisy intruders, eyes slowly focusing on Erin before realizing she was curled up on the cold floor and not in the bunk she had fallen asleep in. She sat up, brows furrowed in confusion as she looked from Erin to Patty and Abby, armed with their proton packs and aiming at her. Suddenly her dream flashed in her mind and she worried they would actually shoot her.

"Whoa, hey," she pushed herself up and raised her hands in a manner similar to what Erin had done to her minutes prior.

"Holtz? That you?" Abby asked suspiciously.

"Uh, yeah. I think so. Feels like me," she answered, rubbing her hand over her face as if to check, "Who else should I be?"

Before any of them could even attempt to answer her, she noticed the broken trap and groaned as she stepped over to it, Abby and Patty's proton packs forgotten.

"What the hell happened to my trap?" she whined.

"You don't remember?" Abby asked.

"Remember what?" Holtz frowned, "Last I remember was laying down in my bunk and waking up here. Guys, how did I get here?"

Nobody responded. None of them knew where to begin.

"It happened, didn't it? She took over," Holtz grimaced, "What did I do? God, Did I hurt anyone?"

She started pacing short lines, breathing picking up as she asked questions but didn't give them time to answer.

"Patty!"

Then she was shoving Erin and Abby aside and crowded the historian, grabbing her hands and lifting them up into a boxing position.

"Hit me," Holtzmann ordered flatly.

"What?"

"Hit me," she repeated, "I watched you knock that asshole Rowan out of Abby and he was in full on fighting mode. Now wind up and let me have it."

"Holtzmann, come on, that's crazy," Erin said, looking to Abby for help.

"You're always threatening to throw me across the room or clock me upside the head," Holtz ignored them and continued, "Here's your chance!"

"You can't be serious man," Patty tried to drop her hands but the blonde caught them and lifted them back into position twice before grabbing them tightly and holding them there.

"Patty, please!" Holtzmann pleaded, suddenly sounding weak, and the crack in her voice made Patty pause and really listen to her. "Please? I don't want to hurt anyone."

Patty tried to look away from the engineer for some help from Erin and Abby, but she was locked in on the desperate blue eyes of her friend and for a moment she wished she were wearing those damn yellow glasses so she couldn't see the tears forming in them.

"Holtzy," Patty clenched her fists before turning them over to gently push Holtzmann's hands down from holding them, "I can't hit you Baby. You know that."

"You didn't hurt anyone Holtz," Erin reasoned with her. "There's no need for this."

"Then what happened?"

"I think we've got this all wrong?" Erin spoke up after a moment of silent recollection, "This is not some malevolent possession. If that was Rebecca and not Holtz, then she's not evil at all. She's terrified."


End file.
